As part of a new participatory artwork by Angela Garrick, Nic Warnock and Yarran Gatsby, members of the general public are invited to submit a complaint about anything, no matter how small or large, trivial or important to the Complaint Department. The Department’s Complaint Ensemble will then respond to a selection of complaints with a series of improvised orchestral performances at Underbelly Arts Festival 2017.

Six musicians will form the core Complaint Ensemble, who will spend two weeks during the Underbelly Arts Lab interpreting the submitted complaints using collaborative improvisational techniques and methods.

Music is a gesture outside language, a mode of communication that appeals to our human instincts, that allows us to comment on language with greater emotional force. Complaint Department is an attempt to capture the current emotional state of the public. What are our pet peeves, our greatest gripes, our day-to-day worries? Each composition will be created especially for the words received – as a commentary, a consolation perhaps, an optimistic gesture.